Carthy makes La Vuelta podium against all odds

Tokyo 2020 08 Nov 20

Lanky Lancastrian Hugh Carthy continued a brilliant year to be British in the peloton by finishing third at La Vuelta a Espana.

The Preston-born rider rolled into Madrid after just under 73 hours of toil and onto the podium, 1m15s down on red jersey winner Primoz Roglic.

6ft 3in Carthy followed up the feats of Tao Geohegan Hart, who won the Giro D’Italia last month, and hopes to keep his name alongside Hart’s in the mix at the top of the sport.

“I am very satisfied with how my Vuelta has gone. This is a turning point in my career,” said the 26-year-old.

“This is a really big change. I want to keep fighting for good rankings in the future.

“I don’t want to slow down now, as there are still plenty of opportunities to come in the future. I can count on a great team, it is the perfect environment for a GC rider.”

The EF Pro Cycling star showed glimpses of his progress in the Tour De France with stellar work in service of leader Dani Martinez.

He was instrumental in Martinez’s Stage 13 victory in the Tour and arrived in Puy Mary in seventh himself.

Carthy signalled his intentions from the first stage in Spain, finishing four seconds down on Roglic and right amongst it with the likes of INEOS’s Richard Carapaz and Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss.

His piece de resistance was on Alto de l’Angliru, with its 20% gradient climbs and 4,000ft of ascend in the space of eight miles. It proved the end of Chris Froome’s Vuelta challenge in 2017.

Carthy poured himself into a lone attack with the peloton practically at a standstill and finished 26 seconds ahead of Roglic.

An excellent time trial performance on Tuesday - in which he opened up a lead of nearly a minute on Israel Start Up Nation’s Dan Martin - helped push him closer to a podium finish.

He ended up 1m18s ahead of Martin, who finished fourth. 

Sportsbeat 2020 // Lead Image courtesy of SWPix

Tags